High Command's Unease!

"Whew..."

Roy let out a deep breath and raised his hand to bring up the panel.

A look of elation spread across his face.

Not only had the original owner's lingering obsession disappeared, but it had also given him a divine-grade item.

Roy was quite familiar with this thing!

That was how he'd obtained the Mera Mera no Mi in the first place.

[Lightning Style Chakra Optimization Card: After use, Lightning Style can be optimized into the power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.]

That simple description alone made Roy's breathing quicken.

The Mera Mera no Mi, plus the Rumble-Rumble Fruit...

Once he'd fully developed both abilities and had enough chakra, wouldn't he be invincible?

Looks like he needed to find something to boost his chakra reserves.

Roy raised his hand, tapped to use the card, then fell into thought.

"Roy!"

Just then, Jo-ni's voice rang out.

He and the other man were each carrying a corpse.

"All clear. No one else is likely to come."

"My lords, you don't have to keep up your transformations anymore."

Roy looked at the two men and smiled.

"Uh... After all these days, we got used to it."

"Roy, you're one devious kid!"

"If you hadn't planned ahead, some of our clan members might've gotten into trouble dealing with those scum."

As Jo-ni spoke, a puff of smoke appeared.

A moment later, he'd returned to his original appearance.

"You flatter me, Lord Nagasawa."

"There's no need to bring those two back. Just burn them."

"Two Root members won't do much to that bastard Danzo."

"I'm sure you know how the High Command covers for one another, Big Brother Nagasawa."

Roy smiled as he spoke.

The mission had brought him quite a haul.

And with the lingering obsession gone, Roy was in a pretty good mood.

"Let's go check on the others first."

"The barrier around the area has disappeared. Have everyone regroup, then we'll prepare to hand over the mission."

Aoshi chimed in as he dispelled his own Transformation Technique.

Jo-ni and Aoshi weren't ordinary Uchiha ninjas at all. They were Uchiha Nagasawa and Uchiha Ryuxi, who had come disguised using the Transformation Technique.

The other three teams each had an Uchiha jonin among them, too.

"Right. Let's head over."

Roy nodded.

A ball of fire fell, reducing the two corpses to ash.

The first rays of the sun rose, and the Uchiha ninjas assigned to relieve the patrol had arrived.

After briefly going over a few things to keep in mind, the group returned to the village together.

They hadn't eaten or slept properly for over ten days, so they went out for a barbecue, then returned to their homes to rest.

Meanwhile, at Root headquarters.

"Kui, Jia, and the others are all dead."

"As soon as we realized they'd been killed, we returned immediately," reported a masked Root member, still shaken.

Even now, the memory of that powerful chakra surge sent a shiver down his spine.

"Hmm?"

"Weren't the three of them targeting Roy's squad?"

"Tenzo?"

After hearing the report, Danzo looked toward Tenzo.

"I didn't take part in the fight. My mission was to seal the three of them and bring them back."

"But they failed, so I left as well," Tenzo said flatly, without a trace of emotion.

He spoke as if the dead men hadn't been his comrades.

"Understood. You may leave."

Danzo waved a hand.

The men quickly vanished.

Root members who failed their missions were usually punished severely.

They hadn't expected Danzo to let them go just like that.

It wasn't that Danzo had suddenly grown a conscience. He simply didn't have the energy to deal with them.

The Uchiha had been acting strangely lately, and he couldn't make sense of them.

Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi, who had once been close to the Konoha High Command, had now been assigned to escort the Daimyo.

Just what were those people...

"Orochimaru, if you're here, come out."

As Danzo was thinking, he sensed a pulse of chakra.

"Lord Danzo, the goods for this month."

Orochimaru licked his lips, a hint of greed in his eyes.

"Is it that time already?"

"I'll have someone deliver them to you. Don't come here unless you have a reason."

Danzo paused, then replied with some displeasure.

Orochimaru had started becoming troublesome lately.

Not only had his research slowed down, he'd also begun to overstep his bounds.

That only added to Danzo's frustration, and he was growing even more displeased.

"Understood."

A giant snake shot out, swallowed Orochimaru whole, and disappeared.

"Gen-Jia, take the prepared goods to Orochimaru."

"While you're at it, find out what he's been up to lately!"

Danzo summoned a Root member and gave him his orders.

Then he fell silent.

Danzo wasn't the only one with a headache now.

The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, was struggling with it too.

"Lord Hokage, the Uchiha patrol has ended its rotation. Over the past half month, they killed forty-seven ninjas who attempted to infiltrate Konoha."

"Most had identifiable records, so their capture bounties will bring in a considerable sum."

"The rest were wandering or mercenary ninjas. Under the patrol guards' compensation rules, their bodies can be turned in for bounties as well."

"The total comes to... 7.1 million ryo."

An Anbu ninja handed Sarutobi Hiruzen a summary of the income from the Uchiha's patrol duty.

He had the money.

And most of it wouldn't even have to come out of his pocket.

But Sarutobi Hiruzen simply didn't want to pay the Uchiha.

Though the Uchiha were Konoha's strongest clan, they didn't have many sources of income.

Apart from the Military Police Force's steady earnings, they had little else.

The Uchiha Clan simply couldn't be bothered to take on missions.

Of course, part of the reason was that Uchiha Fugaku wanted to preserve the clan's strength.

After all, if the Uchiha went out on missions, plenty of other forces would set their sights on them.

As for why Uchiha Sasuke hadn't been targeted when he went on missions in the original story, it was because the Uchiha Clan had already been wiped out by then.

Uchiha Sasuke was the only one left.

And with Uchiha Itachi's fearsome reputation, what force would be foolish enough to go after Sasuke?

But now things were different.

If the Uchiha had enough financial resources, they would grow even stronger.

And then they'd slip even further beyond his control.

But he didn't seem to have any choice but to pay them.

"I understand."

"You can handle these matters."

Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke, then drew deeply on his pipe.

His face was full of indecision.

"Can Danzo actually handle this or not?"

All Sarutobi Hiruzen could do now was hope Danzo would come through, so he wouldn't have to keep worrying about these problems.